US Senators Blast President Obama's UN Action on Iran Deal
Congressional members are speaking out in protest against President Obama's decision to send a proposal to lift sanctions on Iran to the United Nations before it could be reviewed by Congress.
Following weeks of negotiations in Vienna, the U.S. and five other world powers reached an historic agreement with Iran, which places limits on its nuclear program for the next 10 years and its research for the next 15 years, reports CNN. In exchange, the world powers agreed to ease economic sanctions on Iran. As a result, Iran will be able to sell oil to the U.S. once again, which could result in major savings for U.S. drivers.
However, Sen. Ben Cardin, the senior Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, blasted the Obama administration for moving forward with a proposal to draft a new U.N. resolution on international sanctions before U.S. lawmakers had a chance to review the nuclear deal.
"Acting on it at this stage is a confusing message to an independent review by Congress over these next 60 days. So I think it would be far better to have that vote after the 60-day review, assuming that the agreement is not effectively rejected by Congress," said Cardin after meeting with Vice President Joe Biden Thursday, according to The Hill.
"If the United States is signing onto the United Nations program and later on we're not part of it, what we'll do is inconsistent with the U.N. resolution, so it would be better not to have action on the U.N. resolution," he said.
"There was nothing to be lost by waiting until after the review period was over," Cardin said in an interview, according to Politico. "It could be inconsistent [with how Congress votes] and therefore it would have been better if that had been deferred until after the 60-day period."
Likewise, Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker, a Republican from Tennessee, called the action inappropriate.
"I'm sorry, I look at that as an affront to the American people. I look at that as an affront to Congress and the House of Representatives. I talked to them this morning about the fact that I don't think that was a prudent step. I just talked to our U.N. ambassador," he told reporters.
Subscribe to Latin Post!
Sign up for our free newsletter for the Latest coverage!